Imagine lending your voice to an AR Rahman composition for a Mani Ratnam film only in the second year of your career. If that’s enviable, we wonder what to make of Vaishali Samant’s recent feat—25 years after singing Yaro yarodi in Ratnam’s much-loved Tamil film, Alaipayuthey (2000), she has reunited with the filmmaker and the Mozart of Madras to croon Jinguchaa for the upcoming movie, Thug Life.   
    
“I had no idea I was singing for Mani Ratnam sir’s film,” she exclaims, jubilant to have added another Ratnam movie to her résumé. Besides the filmmaker-
composer duo, another heavyweight is involved in the number. The lyrics have been penned by Thug Life’s lead actor Kamal Haasan. Tell Samant that she is in esteemed company, and she says it all came as a surprise to her. “I never ask for details. I try to give my 100 per cent to every song. It was only much later that I realised the song was for Thug Life!”

A still from the song